Method of field curing forage crops



April 1957 R. D. TUFFORD 2,790,290

METHOD OF FIELD CURING FORAGE CROPS Original Filed June 30, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet l 5 W I z a I I II III m- H I 2' 7 1%5621 Q M, M i WM April 0, 1957 R. D. TUFFORD 2,790,290

METHOD OF FIELD CURING FORAGE- CROPS Original Filed June 30, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent 'METHOD OF FIELD CURING FORAGE CROPS Robert D. Tnfford, Minneapolis, Minn., assignor to Winpower Mfg. Company, Newton, Iowa, a corporation of Iowa Application September 18, 1956, Serial No. 610,481

3 Claims. (Cl. 56-1) This invention relates to .a method of field curing forage crops, and more particularly to a method of field curing hay. This application is a division of my copending application entitled Hay Crusher, Serial No. 234,571, filed June 30, 1951.

The method of this invention is used in the harvesting of hay crops, and more particularly alfalfa, clover and other coarse stemmed grasses, which are stored or stacked and used some months later as feed for live stock. In this description, the word hay is used and is understood to include any of the coarse stemmed material which might be harvested for feed.

In the preparation and harvesting of feed, several important factors are involved. Thus, the hay must be cut at the right time and the hay must always be cured so as to provide for the safekeeping of hay, either by inside storage, outside stacking, or baling. The curing of hay involves a drying process whereby the moisture content within the hay is reduced to less than 20%. The ideal moisture content of cured hay is approximately 14%.

In. the ordinary curing of hay, the crop is cut and permitted to lie in the fields, where a natural drying or curing process takes place. Since the stems or stalks of the hay contain the greatest amount of moisture, they naturally require a longer time to cure. By theti'me the stems or hay stalks become. reduced in moisture content, the foliage has become so dry that the leaves and smaller stems become excessively brittle and when the hay is raked or picked up, the leaves and small stems crumble and are. lost. The foliage on these hay stalks usually contains the best food elements and vitamins, and consequently the loss of the dried leaves and short stems is undesirable.

The problem has always been to obtain even or uniform curing of the entire hay stalk including the foliage in It is generally recognized that extra handling of the hay results in extra losses, not only from the point of time and expense involved but also in the loss of parts of the plant itself. Therefore, it is essential to get the hay into a cured state within the least number of operations.

Common haying methods consist of first cutting the there is a loss of a part of the plants. The solution, of

course, is to avoid-extra handling. a

To decrease the drying time ofthe stems, the idea of crushing or rolling the stems has been used; These,

crushing machines are usually used as a separate unit from thecutting machine, and they are expensive, to the point'of'being out of reach of theaverage-farmer; With hay into a swath the full width of the cutter bar; second,

the present crushing machines, the crushing rollers are positioned parallel to the cutter bar and thus the crushed hay is deposited heterogeneously in a wide swath in the field. Accordingly, in the gathering of the hay after the drying process, additional handling is required, and this results in further losses of the dried foliage.

Thus, one of the objects of this invention is to provide a novel method of field curing hay which includes the step of depositing the crushedhay stalks onto the ground in a formed windrow (as distinguished from a heterogeneously deposited, unformed mass of hay with the leaves and tender foliage on the underside of the deposited swath and with the stems more greatly exposed to the sun and air, so that more uniform drying of the hay stalks is obtained.

Another object of this invention is to provide a novel method of field curing hay for use in combination with existing hay cutting methods, whichnovel hay curing method results in the depositing of the crushed hay on the ground in a relatively narrow swath or windrow, whereby the gathering of the dried hay may be accomplished simply and economically.

Further objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent as the following description proceeds and the features of novelty which characterize this invention will be pointed out with particularly in the claims annexed to and forming part of this specification.

A preferred embodiment of a machine for performing the method of this invention is shown in the accompanying drawing, in which Figure -1 is a side elevation view of the hay cuttingand crushing machine;

Figure 2 is an enlarged sectional elevational view of the machine taken substantially on line 2--2 of Figure l, which figure is also looking in the direction that the machine moves during the hay cutting operation;

Figure 3 is a view with parts broken away and in section of the crushing rollers and endless belts, taken on line 33 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a top plan sectional view-of the machine taken substantially on line- 4-4 of Figure 1;

Figure 5 is an enlarged end view of the crushing rollers and the mounting thereof, and is taken on line 5+5 of Figure 3 1 Figure 6 is an enlargedcross section view of the deflector plate and is taken on, line 66 of Figure 2; V

Figure 7 is an enlarged detailed sectional view of the cutter bar, and also showing a portion of the reelspaced thereabove, and is taken on line 7-7 of Figure 4.

Referring now to the drawings, there is shown in- The cutting and crushing machine comprises a frame work generally indicated at 10,- rnounted on a pair of supporting wheels 12. p The framework includes a draw bar 14 which extends forwardly and is adapted to be connected to the drawing vehicle.- A power transmission shaft 16 is positioned above the draw bar 14 and is adapted; to-be connected'to a powertakeotf on the drawing'vehicle;

Referring now particularly to the cutting machine,

said cuttingmachine includes a cutting bar 18 located close to the groundand a reel zaretaramy mounted above the cutting bar 18; Thecuttingbar'18Iandreel Zllrjp'er'atev and coact in a well known manner toc'uto'if thehay stalks close to the ground. Positionedbehind thecutting'bar 18 is a conveyor generally indicated at 2 2, which includes an endless conveyorb el't 2 4 hav'ing' asubstaiitially hori z on tally disposed hay-receiving upper run which, as shown in Figure 7, is at substantially the same level as the cutting bar 18, and which moves from left to right when viewed as in Figure 4. The conveyor belt 24 normally discharges the cut hay behind the drawing vehicle.

The crushing portion of this machine is located adjacent the discharge end of the conveyor 22; In order to direct the hay that is being discharged from the conveyor 22 through the crushing portion of the machine, an auxiliary guide conveyor 26 is provided.

This auxiliary guide conveyor is positioned over a portion of the conveyor 22 and includes an endless belt 28 trained over rollers 30 and 32. The side of the belt 28 which faces the conveyor 22 moves laterally in the same direction as doesconveyor belt 24. The conveyor 22 and auxiliary conveyor 26 converge to a minimum spacing therebetween at the discharge end of the conveyor 22. The convergence between conveyor 22 and auxiliary conveyor 26 is partially obtained by having the belt 24 trained over a roller 34 which is raised slightly, as shown in Figure 2, above the generallevel of conveyor belt 24.

' The crushing portion of the machine positioned adjacent the discharge end of the conveyor 22 includes a pair of crushing rollers 36 and 37. The length of the crushing rollers 36 and 37 is substantially equal to the width of conveyor belt 24. These crushing rollers 36 and 37 are mounted on shafts 38 and 39 which are respectively journalled in structural members 40 and 42.

As seen in Figure 2, the crushing rollers 36 and 37 are disposed so that the bite between the rollers is substantially at the same level as the hay-receiving run of the conveyor. Structural member 42 is welded to frameworkand thus fixed in position. The structural member 40 is pivotally mounted on framework 10 by means of pins 44 so as to provide for spreading apart of the crushing rollers 36 and 37.

The upper crushing roller 36 is resiliently biased toward the lower crushing roller 37. This resilient biasing means includes a bolt 46 which passes through flange 43 of structural member 42 and engages flange 43 by the head 47 thereof. This bolt 46 also passes through the flange 41 of structural member 40. The resilient biasing force is provided by a spring 50 which is positioned between bearing plates 48 and 52. The bearing plate 48 is supported on member 40 by means of a tubular spacer 49 positioned between and welded to flange 41 and bearing plate 48. A pair of nuts 54 serve as means for adjusting and varying the spring pressure 50.

As shown in Figure 2, a deflector plate 56 is positioned on the discharge side of the crushing rollers 36 and 37. This deflector plate 56 is mounted to swing about a shaft 58. The extended end 60 of deflector plate 56 is secured to an adjustment member 62 which is adapted to be positioned by means of a pin .64 in one of a plurality of positioning holes 66 in a plate 68 which is part of the framework 10.

This deflector plate 56 is composed of a pair of tubes or sleeves 70 and 72 and a plurality of arcuate strips 74. The tube 70 is mounted concentrically on shaft 58 to provide for the pivoting of the deflector plate 54 thereabout. The arcuate strips 74 curve backwardly from sleeve 70 towards sleeve 72, as best shown in Figures 1 and 4, for reasons that are described hereinafter in the description of theoperation of the machine.

The driving connections between the various portions of the cutting and crushing machine include a drive pulley.

75 mounted on the axle of supporting wheel 12, and a transmission belt 76. The belt 76 passes over idler pulleys 77 and over a driven pulley 78. The driven pulley I 78 is mounted on the shaft of reel 29, and provides fo the rotation of reel 20.

The power transmission shaft 16 is connected by means thereafter trained over a suitable driving member for rotating roller 30. The chain 84 also is trained over a suitable driving member for driving crushing roller 36. This chain 84 further passes over an idling drive sprocket 86 which causes an auxiliary drive sprocket 88 to be rotated. This auxiliary drive sprocket 88 in turn drives an auxiliary belt or chain 90, which causes the crushing roller 37 and conveyor roller 34 to be rotated.

In describing the operation of the cutting and crushing machine, reference is first made to the cutting bar 18, shown in Figs. 4 and 7, which bar 18 has behind the cutting surface thereof, an extra wide stationary surface or shelf indicated at 92, on which the stems, or butt ends, of the plants rest momentarily after they are cut off by the cutter 18. The upper parts, or tops, of the plants are carried backward by the reel and, therefore, the upper parts of the plants fall onto the moving conveyor belt 24 and immediately start in the direction of the crushing rollers 36 and 37, with the stems, or butt ends, lagging behind. This provides that the upper portions of the stems are discharged from the end of the conveyor 22 first and, therefore, these portions of the plants go through the crushing rollers first. 1 As a consequence, the leaves or tops of the plants at also discharged first onto the ground, leaving the stems at the top of the window formation where they are exposed to the best drying elements, the sun and air.

The fact that the bite of the crushing rollers is substantially at the same level as the hay-receiving run of the conveyor, as shown in Figure 2, and that said hayreceiving run is substantially at the same level of the cutting bar, as shown in Figure 7, which cutting bar is close to the ground, provides that the bite of the crushing rollers is close to the ground, as illustrated in Figure 2, wherein the bite of the rollers is shown below the axis of wheel 12. The closeness of the bite of the crushing rollers to the ground provides that the tops of the stalks of hay engage the'ground before the butt ends of the hay stalks have passed through the crushing rollers, thereby providing for depositing the hay in a formed windrow as contrasted to a heterogeneously deposited mass of hay.

The curved portions 74 of the deflector plate 56 act to direct the cut hay onto the ground with the lower portions of the stems pointing forwardly in the direction of motion of the cutting machine.

It must be realized that the wide shelf 92 behind the cutting edge of cutter bar 18 is essential in getting the of a universal joint 79 to a drive shaft 80 which has a hay is deposited in a relatively narrow swath in one operation and in a position to be easily picked up as soon as it is cured.

While there has been shown and described a particular embodiment for practicing this invention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that the method of this invention may be practiced by a number of different means without departing fromthe invention and, therefore, it is intended in the appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit andscope of the invention.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is:

1. A method of field curing forage crops comprising, plants growing in the field and of the class having stems with foliage at their upper portions, comprising the steps of cutting down the plant's, then immediately crushing the plants to split the stems, and then immediately windrowing and simultaneously positioning the plants with the foilage buried in the windrow and the stems exposed.

2. A method of field curing forage crops which have been cut down and which have stems with leafy matter localized at the upper portions of the plants, comprising the steps of crushing the cut down plants to split their stems, and then immediately windrowing and simultaneously positioning the plants with the foliage buried in the windrow and the stems exposed.

3. A method of field curing forage crops which have been cut down and which have stems with leafy matter localized at the upper portions of the plants, comprising the steps of crushing the cut down plants to split their stems, and then immediately positioning the plants head down with their crushed stems extending upwardly exposed to the natural elements.

No references cited. 

